Tourism | Strategic Management of Tourism Destinations

The Masters Degree in Tourism – Specialisation in Strategic Management of Tourism Destinations aims at contributing to the development of human capital and critical thinking to respond to the new challenges and demands of the tourism sector.

The guidelines for the country’s strategic development in tourism, defined in the National Strategic Plan for Tourism, include the development and strengthening of tourism products and poles, together with the improvement of services and the qualification of human resources. Hence the need to reassess how tourism destinations and products are managed, while simultaneously balancing tradition and innovation and fostering differentiation and qualification. Therefore, new professional skills, training and attitudes are required.

Skills

Tourism is a sector in permanent change in a progressively uncertain world and requires therefore highly trained professionals who can keep up with the external and internal demands of the sector and who are able to foresee and anticipate future changes and act accordingly, in proactive ways. This programme aims at stimulating and deepening a wide range of skills that allow quality professional performances and foster innovation and competitiveness in tourism businesses. Among these are the following:

To supervise, plan and assess business strategies and actions implemented in the tourism system.

To develop institutional relationships in the areas of planning, management of spaces and in tourism operations.

To define, apply and foster the implementation of strategies that excel the competitiveness of businesses and destinations, following sustainable principles.

To establish networks among business and institutional agents in order to improve tourism destinations and products and strengthen their competitiveness.

To assess the internal and external demands that influence the development of the tourism sector and its businesses and to be able to identify trends.

To be able to identify and assess resources and to use them soundly in the development of new and attractive tourism products.

To recognise and value consumers and to match the tourism offer to their demands so as to increase their satisfaction.

To understand the implications of tourism development in the everyday life of host populations and in the organisation of tourism spaces, while simultaneously maintaining the general well-being and the fair and equitable distribution of resources.

To analyse and induce change in tourism markets and businesses so as to foster innovation and competitiveness.

To recognise the role of tourism companies in the sector and to promote and manage their activities.

To conceive and implement projects integrated within a specific destination or business strategy.

To operate and commercialise integrated tourism products.

To ensure that business actions are ethical and socially responsible.

Curriculum

This programme corresponds to 120 ECTS, with mandatory and optional units. Students who successfully complete the 120 ECTS of the programme are awarded with a Masters Degree diploma, while students who successfully complete the first year of the programme (60 ECTS) are awarded with a postgraduate certificate.